


that playful sun

by goldkirk



Series: All This Happy Mess [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Gen, Jim is clueless but he'll get there, Magic, Magical Shenanigans, Sam is the normal sensible one, Shenanigans, and even better, weird things just happen around Jim ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 04:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11638653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldkirk/pseuds/goldkirk
Summary: Jim is magical and also a mess. Gaila is a witch like her mom and about ten thousand times more savvy than Jim, who somehow hasn't realized what he is yet. The Sun is a sneaky, capricious playmate. Everything works out.





	that playful sun

See, you’ve got to understand—Jim never _intended_ for these things to happen.

He was just trying to have fun and play in the river or ride his bike or read upside-down in a tree like any other kid. It’s just, with Jim…things had a tendency to go a bit wonky.

Sam, his older brother Sam—nothing like this ever happened to _him_. He was _perfect_. Never got into any trouble, never accidentally ended up on the roof of the grocery store, never had to explain that his sneakers had _just suddenly_ _grown_ _gemstones, I swear,_ to their amused grandma, never got caught frantically trying to kick suddenly-glowing pebbles off the elementary school playground—

Long story short, people tended to get freaked out by Jim, and Jim tended to kind of agree with them. He didn’t understand any of the weird things that happened around him any more than they did. Friends were not something that the youngest Kirk expected to ever have in reality, outside of the books he spent whole summers devouring in his free time. It wasn’t worth the inevitable freak-outs.

So it was only understandable that Jim had a bit of a freak out of his own the when a non-family member caught him desperately trying to wriggle out of a tangle of literal sunbeams— _not_ part of his plan, _honest_ —by the swimming hole and didn’t even bat an eye. The stranger stopped a few feet away just taking in the scene for a few beats, before seeming to sigh quietly. They reached out to help untangle Jim from where he was dangling from the tree, unwrapping sunbeams strand by strand and…also not getting burned. And they were able to touch the sunbeams like they were normal rope. Who _was_ this person? And then Jim was down to one loop left, and suddenly realized what was about to happen, and—

“Wait—no—!” Too late. Jim, freed from the tangle, fell head-first past the ground at the edge of the mini-cliff and landed in the river down below. Jim popped right back up, spluttering, and looked up to glare at the stranger. “Come on!” He shouted up at them. As the river pushed him downstream, he struck out for the bank and was quickly clambering back up the slope to the tree, sopping wet and spitting mad. “You couldn’t have maybe pulled me towards solid ground first?”

“Well,” the girl said, a corner of her lips turning up slightly, “I figured if you were dangling on a rope over a creek in no shirt, you probably meant to jump in the water anyway!”

“Not like that!” Jim protested. "The rope wasn't even _there_ earlier this morning. I wanted to swing and jump, not fall on my face." The two children stared at each other for a few seconds, Jim trying to glare and the girl trying not to laugh. Finally Jim growled, shaking his wet hair like a dog and spraying her with water droplets.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, jumping back and laughing. Only, her jump had landed her right at the edge of the little cliff, and her eyes went wide as she tried to catch her balance. “Oh n—!”

Jim reached out a hand, leaping forward to try to grab her, but it was too late. She tipped backwards and landed in the river with a splash, then came up laughing.

“I guess we’re square now,” she said as she walked back up to where Jim stood. “Too bad we didn’t get to use the sunbeam swing, though, it looked like it could be fun.”

“Yeah,” Jim said, perking up. “We should try…where’d it go?” The long and lively rope of sunbeams was gone from the tree, like it had never been there at all. Jim stared around at the surrounding area, as if looking would make it appear again out of thin air.

“It’s the Sun, silly,” the girl said. “I mean, you can’t expect it to stick around forever, right? It’s got lots of other things to do.”

“What?” Jim blinked at her.

“The Sun. It’s busy. And very playful. It’s mischievous, you know? Never know what you’ll end up with, with that one.”

Jim stared. “Who _are_ you?”

She smiled broadly, sticking out a hand. “I’m Gaila! My mom and I just moved here. And you are?”

“Jim Kirk,” Jim said dumbly as they shook hands. “Look, I don’t want to pry or anything, but—“

“Oh, no worries! My mom and I are witches. I was going to the academy in the city till now, but mom thinks I’ll do better homeschooled, so we moved out here for some peace and quiet and better access to nature. Are you a wizard? I mean, you’d have to be to use sunbeams like that, right? Have you gone to a magic school?”

“Am I a wizard?” Jim blinked again. “I—no? I don’t think so. Not that I know of.”

“Well you have to be something,” Gaila said. “Normal people can’t see things like sunbeam ropes, much less touch them, at least without getting burned. What are you, then?”

“I’m just a human,” Jim insisted. “Maybe I’m just weird. Sure, things happen sometimes, but I never do anything on purpose. It’s not me doing it. Maybe I just…I dunno, trigger magic things?”

“Maybe,” Gaila said, thoughtfully. “I can ask my mom! Oh, rats. I was supposed to head back for lunch already. I have to go. You want to meet again tomorrow morning? Same place? I’ll bring some cool stuff so I can show you some magic, if you want!”

“Okay,” Jim agreed. “And I can tell you all the tips about living here.”

Gaila laughed. “Deal! Well, see you tomorrow, Jim Kirk!” She took off running in what Jim figured must be the direction of her house.

“Bye, Gaila,” he called “See you.” Jim stood for a minute, just staring around at the tree and river and bushes. What a weird, weird day, even for him. Witches! Magic? Could Gaila be right about him? Could he be a wizard, or whatever? It could make sense, if that was why all the weird things seemed to happen around him. But if he was, then why wasn’t Sam? What about his mom? Or Grandpa Tib, or Gran? Were they magic? Jim would know if they were, right?

…Right?

Jim couldn’t help thinking about the twinkle he sometimes saw in Grandpa Tib’s eyes when he brushed his hands over the tops of the wheat and corn that always seemed to grow better than anyone else’s, and the wild stories he told about folk legends and silly creatures, and the way the breeze seemed to blow in weird ways around the house sometime, and how even when it was windy and humid outside Gran’s hair never seemed to look anything less than perfect, with all those crystal pins tucked in its twists and braids. And above all, he’d always thought it was weird that Gramps and Gran had _never_ , no matter how weird a situation Jim had gotten himself into, really been upset or seemed surprised about it. They took it in stride a little too well, Jim realized. _Almost_ like they _expected_ these things to happen.

Maybe Jim should sit down with Gramps tonight and ask him an awful lot of questions, he thought. And if his sneaking suspicions were right, well. Life might be about to get a lot more interesting.


End file.
